U.S. Representative Dave Weldon, M.D., F.A.C.P. of Melbourne, Florida, is an Army veteran and physician who was sworn into his first political office in November 1994 to serve the people of Florida's 15th Congressional District.
As a practicing physician and Army veteran, his background and expertise have been called upon on numerous occasions in key debates, policy discussions, and leadership positions.
Rep. Weldon is the first medical doctor to serve from the State of Florida and is the first Republican physician and only the second physician ever to serve on the prestigious House Appropriations Committee. He is also the first representative from East-Central Florida to be appointed to the Appropriations Committee. In that capacity, Rep. Weldon has served on various subcommittees, including the Science, State, Justice and Commerce Subcommittee, which has funding oversight of several key executive branch agencies including NASA. He currently serves on the Labor, Health, and Human Services, as well as the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittees. Rep. Weldon is a member of the Autism Caucus, the Cancer Caucus, the Renewable Energy Caucus, the Tourism Caucus, and the Military Veterans Caucus. He is also a member of the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Post 453A, known as the “Rocket Post,” in Rockledge, Florida.
In previous years, Rep. Weldon served on the House Science Committee, the House Banking Committee, and the Government Reform Committee. Rep. Weldon also served as a member of the Committee on Education and Workforce during the 104th Congress.
His leadership in the House also includes serving as Vice Chairman of the Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, for 8 years, where he represented the interests of his constituents at Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Station, and surrounding aerospace community. He is the co-founder and chairman of the Congressional Aerospace Caucus. He was Chairman of the Civil Service Subcommittee from 2001-2003.
Since coming to Washington, Rep. Weldon continues to be a sought after media guest for various issues including medical/health/bio ethics; veterans affairs; science; and NASA, as well as military space utilization. He has appeared on numerous national, international and local radio and television outlets including FOX's O' Reilly Factor, CNN's Inside Politics, The CBS Early Show, Fox & Friends, One-on-One with John McLaughlin, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Hardball with Chris Matthews, the BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Focus on the Family, Janet Parshall's America, the Diane Rehm Show and AP Radio. Publications in which Rep. Weldon has been quoted include Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, LA Times, Orlando Sentinel, Newsweek, Washington Times, Time, Space News, and World Magazine.
Born in Long Island, NY, in 1953, to Anna and David Weldon, the Congressman is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. Weldon worked his way through college as a respiratory technician and successfully earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry with high honors in 1978.
Following his graduation from Stony Brook, Dr. Weldon began studying medicine at the State University of New York's Buffalo School of Medicine on a scholarship with the Army Health Professions Scholarship program.
Three years later, he completed the accelerated degree program at Buffalo and was honored by being accepted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. Weldon then entered a three-year internship and residency in internal medicine at the Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco.
After completing military training in San Francisco, Dr. Weldon began a three-year tour of duty at Winn Army Community Hospital, Fort Stewart, Georgia. He left active duty as a Major in 1987 to enter private practice with the Melbourne Internal Medicine Associates, a 38-member multi-specialty medical group in Melbourne, Florida. He remained in the U.S. Army Reserves until 1992. Dr. Weldon continues to see patients at the new VA Outpatient Clinic in Viera on a volunteer basis.
Rep. Weldon and his wife, Nancy, have two children, Katie and David.
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